Your Face
by neon
Summary: This is the sequel to ‘Unwanted,’ so in order to understand this, you’ll probably want to read that. Kennedy starts dating around, but can she stop thinking of Nick? And can Nick stop thinking about her?
1. Introduction

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Author's Note: _To those of you who liked 'Unwanted,' here's the sequel to it. I wasn't going to start this until later on this year, but seeing TaiE, and listening to 'Your Face' tonight kind of inspired me. I'm changing Rylea's name to Kennedy in this, as well._

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Title: Your Face – Inspired by a Mandy Moore song  
**Author:** neon  
**Summary:** This is the sequel to 'Unwanted,' so in order to understand this, you'll probably want to read that.  
Kennedy is finally coming to grips with the fact that she can never have Nick as more than a friend. She starts dating around, but can she stop thinking of Nick? And can Nick stop thinking about her?  
Remember, though, if you do decide to read that, the character on Rylea is actually Kennedy. Hope you enjoy…  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anyone but Kennedy, Jenna, Anna and maybe a couple other characters you haven't seen on TV. Alliance, CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer and Anthony Zuiker own everything else. Maybe someone could buy them for me for my birthday? June first! I'll be extra good! I promise!  
**_Here goes nothing…_**

~~ Introduction ~~

After two months, Kennedy was finally getting used to the blood, gore and guts of investigating crime. She was quite proud of herself, really. She'd done better than she ever thought she would. But, this case was too much for her to handle. She looked beside her at Catherine, whose face held the same expression as hers did…one of complete terror and total grief.

The girl before them was pinned against the wall by her clothing, her blonde hair was completely shaved off and on the floor beside her, and she had a huge pool of blood below her. "Oh my God…" Kennedy gasped out as she glanced over at Detective Lockwood. "Do you have any idea who this poor girl is?"

"Brittany Jenkins…" Detective Lockwood answered. "She was nineteen, and she had just moved in her, a day ago."

Catherine looked at Kennedy, and shook her head. "Some people sicken me…really, they do…"

Kennedy nodded in agreement. "What could have happened? It's scary, really, thinking of what may have pushed a human to do this…" she sighed, looking around the room at all the music posters. _Murder INC? This girl was asking for death even in her posters!_ Even though Kennedy knew that Murder INC was the name of a record company, she chuckled at this thought a little.

"It really doesn't take much…" Catherine told her. "She probably wouldn't give herself up to someone…"

"We're not allowed to be biased, Cath…" Kennedy said, sounding like her father, as she leaned over to pick up a clump of hair. "If we were, I would, but we're not…"

"You're definitely your father's daughter, Kennedy," Catherine grinned snapping a picture of the body, then watching David Phillips, the assistant coroner, enter the room. "Hey David…"

"Hey Cath, hey Kennedy, you guys done with that?" he asked, pointing to the body.

"That?" Kennedy asked, tilting her head in anger. "Her name was Brittany…"

"Well then," David shook his head. "Are you guys done with BRITTANY?" he grinned at Kennedy, and then pointed back at Brittany again.

"Cath needs to get a couple more pictures, then we will be…" Kennedy laughed, and put the clump of hair in a bag. "Hey, Cath…"

"Way ahead of you, K…" she nodded, aiming the camera at Brittany again, and taking three pictures, each at a different zoom and angle.

Kennedy looked toward the door, just as Detective Brass entered the room. "Hey, Jim…" she glanced Catherine's way, knowing this would automatically get her attention. Kennedy was the only one in the lab who knew that Catherine and Jim had something going on, and this was only because she had walked into Jim's office, to see them sharing a long passionate kiss. "Do you know if dad is on his way or not?"

Jim shook his head, seeing Catherine out of the corner of his eye, then smiling. "He got caught up in a 419 at the Stratosphere Tower…"

"Busy day…" Kennedy sighed. 

"In this business, busy days are bad…" Catherine knew this was what Kennedy meant. "Did Gil send anyone in his place, Jim?"

"Yeah, he sent Nick…" Jim nodded and watched David carry the body out of the room. "He should be here any minute…"

The name Nick sent chills up Kennedy's spine, still. Even after all of what she'd been through, she still had a deep 'thing,' as she called it, for Nick. She just didn't want to push herself on him, and lose the friendship that she'd worked so hard to achieve. No way was she going to let a crush get in the way of that. She had to get over him, even if it meant dating around, and finding someone that she liked more than Nick. Even if it took forever.

~~

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~~ The Song ~~

'Your Face' – Mandy Moore

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Oh yeah  
Your face  
I'm still not over  
Your Face.  
Headlights break through the rain  
Over London's winter light.  
  
I came all the way here tonight  
To look in your eyes.  
I came all the way here tonight  
Just to see you.  
  
Your face  
Holds me over  
Your face.  
It wipes away the rain,  
With a hundred summer skies.  
And every time I talk to you  
It's like I'm alright.  
And every time I talk to you  
I get a little closer to light.  
  
You are the face  
That heaven shown me  
When I needed someone,  
Someone to love.  
And stay  
You showed me  
The quiet kind of love behind your face.  
  
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah  
Your face,  
Let me show the world,  
Your face.  
All the stars and suns above  
Are jealous in it's light.  
You steal the sky away from them  
And bring it aside.  
You steal the sky away from them  
And bring it to life.  
  
'Cause you are the face  
That heaven showed me  
When I needed someone,  
Someone to love.  
And stay  
You showed me  
The quiet kind of love behind your face.


	2. Chapter One

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~~ Chapter One: Butterfly ~~  
(Inspired by a song by the one, the only…the loony, *cough*…Mariah Carey)

Kennedy stared, disconcerted, at the ground in front of her. This girl, this dead, mutilated girl, could have been her a couple of years ago. It could be her any day of her life. Every day, when she came to work, Kennedy would realize, more and more, how precious life really was. She rested her tear-stricken face in her hands and just stood in that spot thinking about that fact. All of a sudden, a comforting hand touched her shoulder, and a comforting voice filled her ears.

"Kennedy?" Nick asked, placing his hand on her shoulder, and flashing that classic Nick Stokes grin her way. "Are you ok?" he asked, secretly knowing the answer to that question. Whenever Kennedy Grissom (up until a week ago, she was Kennedy Patterson, but she changed her last name to comply with the fact that she finally found out who her real father was) got that look on her face, something was seriously wrong. And he was going to find what it was, even if it killed him.

Kennedy looked up from her hand, and flashed Nick a friendly smile. "Yeah, I'll be ok, thanks…" she knew deep down that he could see right through her. He'd always had that ability. That was one of the things that attracted Kennedy to him so. She looked at him, and she couldn't do anything but smile. Even though he was ripping her apart inside, she couldn't help but smile at those deep brown eyes.

"You are such a bad liar, you know that, right?" he asked, staring her down with those brown eyes that pierced through everything, and saw the truth in Kennedy's mind. "Tell me, Kennedy, what's the matter?" 

How could he do that? How could he always dig into the depths of her soul, and find whatever it was that was getting to her? God, she hated it. But, she loved it, because she loved him. Nick Stokes was her driving force, and her reason for breathing, but she couldn't let that cloud her way of life, because he didn't want to be more than friends. "Just thinking about how things never turn out like you plan them to," she lied again, apparently more convincingly this time. "Have you ever noticed that?"

Nick nodded, and looked at the spot on the ground that Kennedy had been staring at. "But, how can you get all that from a spot on the ground?" he asked, playing the humor card. That was another thing that she loved about him…his incessant ability to make her laugh. "I mean, I love the deep state of mind, and all, but that spot on the ground is rather dismal…"

Kennedy laughed, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "I'm my father's daughter, that should be enough for you!" she stuck her tongue out at her friend. Her friend? Her friend. She repeated that to herself. Nick was her friend, and nothing more. But it took all she had inside her not to just reach up and kiss him right then and there. "So, did you get the scoop from Cath, or do I have to explain everything to you, as usual?" she asked, joking with Nick. "Are you Mr. Clueless today?" she grinned a little, looking up to see the expression on Nick's face.

Nick scoffed and pushed Kennedy gently. "You are so mean! For your info, Miss Clueless," he curled his lip at her. "Cath explained it all to me, and so did your dad on my way here, so take that and put it in your Christmas stocking!"

"My Christmas stocking?" Kennedy raised an eyebrow. "Was that a random comment from the ever amusing Book of Nicholas Stokes?" she asked, sticking her tongue out. "Or, was that just some statement you picked up from Greg?" she laughed.

"The latter," Nick explained, laughing along with Kennedy. "You know I get all my weirdness from that guy!" he smiled angelically at her. "Because, me? No, I'm not a weird guy!"

Kennedy snorted out a laugh. "RIGHT!" she scoffed, and then started laughing uncontrollably. "And I'm the Queen of Japan!" she put her hands on her hips, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Japan has a Queen?" Nick asked. He really knew the answer…he just wanted to get Kennedy going. "Your majesty!" he gasped, as he bowed down on one knee in front of Kennedy.

"I could get used to this!" she smiled wide, and watched Nick go to kiss her feet. "Yes, Japan has a Queen! And her name is Queen Kennedy Grissom!"

Nick stood back up, and pushed Kennedy again. They always acted like high-school kids around each other, and to them, it was refreshing to have someone to act childish around. Unfortunately, their fun had to be interrupted. Catherine approached them, and grinned a little. "Nicky, Kennedy," she began. "One of you has to take this back to Greg," she explained to them, holding up a bagged, bloody swab and a bagged strand of hair. "And the other can come with me to question the vic's boyfriend."

Nick knew that it would probably be better if he went with Catherine to question the boyfriend. If Kennedy went with her, they'd be investigating another case, and the perp would be 'Queen Kennedy.' He looked at Kennedy, and then back to Catherine. "I'll go with you, Cath. You can take that back to Greg."

Kennedy took the baggies, and flashed Nick a thankful look. "Call me if you find anything out, ok?" she asked, leaving the room.

As she walked to her car, she started to think again. The only way she would ever get over Nick was if she started dating again. She had to ask someone out. The first single man she saw, which would more than likely be either Greg or Warrick. Maybe one of those two was her soul mate. But then again, maybe it was Nick, and she was just deluding herself, even thinking that she could get over him. Either way, she loved Nick Stokes, and there was nothing she could do but to get over him.

~~

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When you love someone so deeply, they become your life  
It's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside.  
Blindly I imaged I could keep you under glass.  
Now I understand to hold you I must open my hands and watch you rise.  
Spread your wings and prepare to fly, for you have become a butterfly.  
Fly abandonedly into the sun.  
If you should return to me; we truly were meant to be.  
So spread your wings and fly, butterfly.  
~~ 'Butterfly' – Mariah Carey ~~  



End file.
